After a disappointing rookie season in 2025, things were already trending downhill for running back Kaleb Johnson. The Pittsburgh Steelers' 2025 third-round pick struggled to carve out a role on offense, and his critical special teams blunder early in the season landed him in Mike Tomlin's doghouse.
Since his forgettable rookie season, the Steelers signed veteran running back Jaylen Warren to a two-year, $11.9 million contract extension and signed RB Rico Dowdle in free agency, who recorded back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons for the Cowboys and Panthers in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
Johnson's future outlook was already grim. Now things just went from bad to worse.
On Monday, the Steelers signed another running back—former Seahawks and Bears RB Travis Homer. While Homer has only 90 career rushes in his first seven NFL seasons, he's a core special-teams player.
Now Johnson is left without a path to a role on the Steelers' roster in 2025, and we need to have a painful conversation about his future in Pittsburgh.
The Pittsburgh Steelers should cut their losses and trade RB Kaleb Johnson
Nobody ever wants to give up on a Day 2 draft pick just one season into his NFL career. But the option might be to trade Johnson or let him rot on the bench as a healthy scratch. That's the harsh reality of the situation.
Johnson proved he wasn't capable of carving out a role on special teams last season. We can fault the organization for not getting him involved enough, but he didn't do much with the opportunities at hand.
Even with Tomlin gone, that hardly means that Johnson is in the clear. Mike McCarthy is the new head coach in town, and though McCarthy runs a wide zone offense (which Johnson is familiar with), he likes to run out of shotgun. This is not Johnson's forte.
Meanwhile, the Steelers paid Warren and Dowdle for a reason. This will be the two-headed monster in the backfield in 2026. These two backs will earn a lion's share of the carries, while Homer is expected to be a core special teams player, likely as the RB3 on the roster.
Homer has played a whopping 1,303 special teams snaps over his first seven seasons, per Pro Football Reference, and it's his experience in this area that no doubt made him an attractive free-agent option for the Steelers. Additionally, Homer brings kick-return experience, having fielded 19 kicks for 473 yards (24.9 per return) and a touchdown since his rookie season in 2019.
Johnson doesn't offer quality kick return ability. He isn't refined in special teams coverage. He's not nuanced in pass protection, and he's shaky at best as a route runner.
When you combine the weaknesses of his game with the sudden depth of the position after the Dowdle and Homer signings, there simply isn't room for him to carve out a role. Thus, the Steelers should right be Johnson and themselves by trading him for whatever they can get in return at this point.
Just like a new car depreciates in value, so does a draft pick one year later who's coming off a bad season. Though the Steelers spent a third-round pick to acquire the former Iowa running back, he may only be worth a sixth- or seventh-round selection one year removed from the 2025 NFL Draft.
This seems like highway robbery for a team that might be gaining his services. But the Steelers don't have any better options. Kaleb Johnson isn't a fit, and he might not earn a helmet on game days at this rate. Omar Khan should trade him while he still holds some value.